News

Calvin Falls to Hope In Home Opener

Friday, September 19, 2008

GRAND RAPIDS—The momentum of a large and vocal crowd inside the Huizenga Tennis and Track Center was not enough to lift the Calvin women’s volleyball team to victory Friday night against rival Hope as the Flying Dutch handed the Knights a 25-22, 25-20, 23-25, 25-22 defeat.

Friday night’s match was played in front of a crowd of standing room only crowd of more than 800 fans inside the Huizenga Tennis and Track Center. It also featured a meeting of nationally-ranked teams fighting for first place in the MIAA standings. Ranked 17th in the most recent AVCA Division III Top 25 poll, Hope is now alone atop the MIAA standings at 5-0 in league play while improving to 10-3 overall. Ranked 15th nationally, Calvin is now 9-3 overall and 3-1 in league play.

Calvin held an 18-16 lead in set one but Hope ripped off a pair of 3-0 runs with the second spurt giving the Flying Dutch a 23-21 advantage. Calvin closed to within a point only to see Hope rattle off the final two for the win.

In set two, Hope jumped out to an early lead and never trailed. In set three, Calvin vaulted out to a 19-13 lead only to see Hope storm back to take a 23-22 lead with a 10-3 run. Calvin responded with three unanswered points to win the set and keep the match alive.

In set four, Hope broke a 19-19 tie with a 6-3 run to close out the set and the match.

Hope was led in the win by Nora Slenk with 14 kills with Casisdy bulthuis contributing 12 kills and Teresa Borst 11 kills. Junior setter Andrea Helminiak had 49 assists and 12 digs for the Flying Dutch. Defense was a key for Hope as the Flying Dutch had 60 digs to Calvin’s 49.

Calvin returns to action on Tuesday next week when it travels to Olivet for a 6:30 p.m. conference match.